Jude background

Jude

Author: Jude
See Reflection
Also see Ecclesiastical History by Eusebius; Book 3, Chapter 25, Verse 3.

Date: Possibly 65 A.D. (1)

Language: Greek

Place: Unknown

Purpose: An urging to "contend for the faith" in the midst of people who are working to deceive people about the true identity of Jesus, and to deceive people about the grace of God.

What kind of book?: A general epistle with a specific lesson.

Reflection: This is a similar reflection as the one I wrote for James, because the argument is tied together. The popular assumption that the author of Jude and James were the "brothers" (they were not physical brothers obviously) of Jesus is not documented. People assume the authors of Jude are the "brothers" because Jude states he is the brother of James at the start of his letter. Yet both could have been apostles! The apostle Thaddaeus whose nickname was Judas, and who was probably called Jude to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot, was the son of a James (Luke 6:16), thus it is more likely that he would have a brother named James. I saw a commentary once that asked why Jude would make special mention of his brother if he was an apostle? Good question. But if he had been the "brother" of Jesus, why would he not mention him instead of his earthly brother. I tend to lean toward apostle authorship, since had they been the "brothers" of Jesus, I think it is more likely that early Christian historians would have made specific mention of that. But I add that these two books were doubted by some early church historians as to whether they were authentic Scripture.
Hunter Irvine
(1) See [Samuel A. Cartledge, A Conservative Introduction to the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1938).
{Note: The definition of "conservative" in this context means giving the biblical text the full authority, and working to interpret according to the original intent of the author, rather than having anything to do with politics.}